Almost every book I have purchased from B&N had downloaded as a PDB as well. That this is due to my using a Mac is utterly bizarre. I wonder if this affects Fictionwise as well.....

PDB books for Mac was a workaround for the problem that the original Nook for Mac software had problems reading ePub books. There were a lot of complaints about that when B&N switched to Epub.
B&N recently released a new version of the Nook for Mac software that will download all your books as ePub, and reads ePub just fine.
So I expect that PDB downloads will be turned of soon (now they are no longer needed as a workaround).

I usually use nookstudy but I just downloaded nook for mac and all of my books are ePubs. How do you know if you have a book that's PDB prior to downloading?

ETA: Nevermind. Geertm is correct.

If I download the books through nookstudy or nook for mac, it's ePub format but if I download it through the browser it's PDB. My nook is 3G so I always get the books on my nook through that but I keep backup copies through the desktop application which gives me ePub format. If it's not too much of an hassle, you might want to start using a desktop app.

The issue is going to be with what Kezza mentioned. PDB files that are from other places not named Barnes & Noble.

I'm guessing if you bought it on BandN in PDB format, you can probably re-download it in Epub format, either right now, or in the very near future, as they seem to be transitioning to 100% epub.

If all else fails, a quick, easy Calibre convert should do the trick as well.

I just purchased a Nook Color (I still have my Sony Reader), and this issue reminds me of what Sony did when they transitioned from LRF (Sony's old proprietary format) to EPUB. My current Sony Reader doesn't support LRF so when I registered my new ereader they allowed me to download the EPUB version of the same ebooks I'd already purchased at no cost.

I emailed B&N customer support over this issue as I have over a hundred pdb books from eReader.com. They assured me that they could be read on the STR.

I was skeptical since the wording of the reply seemed to indicate the support person didn't fully understand my question. I then called the support line. This person also didn't seem to understand. I kept telling her that B&N owned eReader.com. Finally, she put me on hold and asked someone else. When she came back, she told me that the STR will support eReader.com.

I'm still not too sure. Maybe I need to bite the bullet and buy & try. I can always send it back.

I'm still confused since they don't seem to have their act together at customer support. I think I'll wait on buying one.

My experience with B&N support is that they NEVER have their act together. I have called and emailed multiple times with problems and they never understand what I'm talking about. Once I went back and forth over email with support many times about a book with terrible quality problems, they just kept sending me a form letter about how to download my books. *headdesk* I never did get any resolution or any confirmation that they ever understood my problem.

I would trust the specs over B&N support on this. Unless eReader makes our books available to redownload as epub, I don't think you'll be able to read them on the new nook.

My experience with B&N support is that they NEVER have their act together. I have called and emailed multiple times with problems and they never understand what I'm talking about. Once I went back and forth over email with support many times about a book with terrible quality problems, they just kept sending me a form letter about how to download my books. *headdesk* I never did get any resolution or any confirmation that they ever understood my problem.

I would trust the specs over B&N support on this. Unless eReader makes our books available to redownload as epub, I don't think you'll be able to read them on the new nook.

I completely agree with this -- the B&N CS is so frustrating it makes me want to tear my hair out.

At this point, I honestly believe all emails sent to CS are automatically deleted and that the entire department has been replaced with an automated message server.

I'm not sure if this has been covered, but these are my two cents. You can use the Stanza application on a Mac to download protected (Secure) PDB eBooks that you purchased from Fictionwise/eReader. You can then transfer them to the Stanza app on an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad via iTunes on the Mac. You can read them on the Mac or on the iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad. You'll find a discussion of this at lexcycle.com web site, http://www.lexcycle.com/faq

Unfortunately, you cannot transfer these files to the new nook. I've tried everything I can think of as have others. B&N doesn't seem to care, but at least if you no longer have your Palm device, you can still read your Fictionwise (and eReader) eBooks on some new devices. Hope this helps some of you.

The Secure eReader files downloaded by STanza on an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad cannot be read on the Mac Stanza application, but only on the iPhone, etc. Sorry, I spoke too soon. But at least you can still read all those eReader and Fictionwise books you bought. Don't have one of these devices? Buy a used iPod Touch. They're cheap now, and that's all you need, really—unless you want a big screen, then buy a 1st gen iPad, they're cheap now too and good enough for reading eBooks.